Digital subscriptions continue to rise

Digital subscriber numbers have continued to grow for most of the country’s major mastheads, according to the Audited Media Association of Australia (AMAA)’s ABC figures.

The Herald Sun in Melbourne has been a strong digital performer with a growth of more than 11 per cent in online subscriptions year-on-year and a base subscriber base of 53,112, while The Age has seen an almost 10 per cent lift to 129,470.

The Sydney Morning Herald, with 133,702 digital subscribers, is up 5.7 per cent although the paper has experienced a quarter-on-quarter decline of 1572 subscribers, or 1.18 per cent. The Age also experienced a quarter-on-quarter decline but is up overall.

Digital subscriber numbers for The Australian are up 8.8 per cent year-on-year to 67,661.

The Daily Telegraph, the Courier-Mail and Adelaide’s The Advertiser do not disclose their digital subscriber data.

In print, most papers saw a decline in sales. The Australian experienced a 6.5 per cent decline to 104,165 average Monday to Friday sales, and a 3.3 per cent decline for its weekend edition to 230,182.

The Monday to Friday Sydney Morning Herald fell 11.3 per cent to 112,229 sales, and its Saturday edition fell 7.6 per cent to 208,053.

The Sun-Herald saw a fall of less than one per cent and sold 222,873 average copies.

Melbourne’s The Age Monday to Friday edition fell 11.9 per cent to 104,370, its Saturday edition experienced a 7.1 per cent decline to 178,721 and The Sunday Age fell 9 per cent.